Small businesses are vital to NASA’s mission, helping expand humanity’s presence in space and improve life on Earth. NASA has selected 365 U.S. small business proposals for initial funding from the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, a total investment of more than $45 million. “At NASA, we recognize that small businesses…
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SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, March 24 for launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous window is at 4:28 a.m. EDT, or 8:28 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Thursday, March 25 at 4:06 a.m. EDT, or 8:06 UTC. The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting…
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NASA is targeting no earlier than April 8 for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Before the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft can attempt its first flight, however, both it and its team must meet a series of daunting milestones. Ingenuity remains attached to the belly of…
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Asteroid 2001 FO32 is the biggest known asteroid to sweep past Earth in 2021. It was discovered on March 23, 2001, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project, near Socorro, New Mexico. Asteroid 2001 FO32 is estimated to be about .6 miles in diameter. Although there’s no risk of impact, the space rock is of interest also because it’s…
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For All Moonkind, Inc., the only organization in the world dedicated to protecting human heritage in space, is proud to unveil the For All Moonkind Moon Registry, a free online resource that catalogs and celebrates human historical sites and artifacts on the Moon. From Luna to Apollo to Chang’e and everything in between, the Moon Registry www.moonregistry.forallmoonkind.org provides overviews of every mission…
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SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, March 9 for launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous window is at 9:58 p.m. EST, or 2:58 UTC on March 10. The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this mission previously supported launch of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to…
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Valerie L. Thomas (born February 8, 1943) is an American scientist and inventor. Thomas was interested in science as a child, after observing her father tinkering with the television and seeing the mechanical parts inside. Thomas did not have a lot of support as a young child; her parents did not fight for her right to study a STEM curriculum,…
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In celebration of Black History Month, NASA astronaut Victor Glover welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris to the International Space Station for a virtual chat. In the video recorded Feb. 24 and shared Saturday, the conversation ranged from the legacy of human spaceflight to observing Earth from the vantage of the space station, Glover’s history-making stay aboard the orbiting…
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On Friday, NASA celebrated the agency’s first African American female engineer, Mary W. Jackson, with a ceremony formally naming the agency’s headquarters building in Washington in her honor. Jackson began working at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) – the forerunner of NASA – in April 1951. From her initial role as a “human computer” within the segregated…
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NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover got its first high-definition look around its new home in Jezero Crater on Feb. 21, after rotating its mast, or “head,” 360 degrees, allowing the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument to capture its first panorama after touching down on the Red Planet on Feb 18. It was the rover’s second panorama ever, as the rover’s Navigation…
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